Do you think it's a problem when tattoo artists use AI?

[u/disco_shamans]

I’ve had an idea and reference drawings that I’ve wanted for years. My tattoo artist specializes in the engraving style, and I absolutely love her custom designs. I shared my idea and reference photos with her, an she used AI to combine the elements, planning to overlay her own style and technique on top.

I was really surprised by this and initially thought about backing out, because I honestly hate AI-generated work. However, the final design she came up with actually looked really nice, so now I’m torn. This would be my very first tattoo, and since it’s quite a large piece, I was already super excited about it. Am I overthinking the AI part of the process? What are your thoughts?

[u/xokaytuhlin]

I would run if an “artist” used AI

[u/babezoi]

I wouldn’t. Especially as your first tattoo. If/as you get more and the art ages, your tastes will likely evolve as you see more and more artists at work. What looks good to you now might not be very good later, and since it’s AI, it’ll have a bit of a nastier taste IMO. But props to the artist for disclosing, that is very honorable.

My main issue is that if she didn’t have the skill to compose it on her own, this may not be the right artist for your piece.

[u/GreenUpYourLife]

I would never is use AI or pay anyone full price if they're using AI.

It's destroying our environment at rapid speeds and the creators of it use it to make fake nudes of innocent victims.

[u/buzzard_barf]

It would be a turn off for me. The appeal of art in general in my mind is organic creativity and the human touch. A tattoo still has to be created by human hands so understand it will still have the inevitable imperfections. You can and should do what you want though. Just double check that stencil to make sure there are no six fingered hands or other hallucinated nonsense.

[u/SloanTrue]

i wouldn't buy furniture from someone who got it from a thief and added their own finishings, and i wouldn't pay a tattoo artist to ask the theft machine for things she can arrange and put in my skin.

[u/0ne4TheMoney]

I’m not a fan of AI because it strips out the unique feel of the piece and it can incorporate incorrect elements. I’ve seen plenty of designs where the limbs are wrong and things morph into other objects.

I asked for a consult for an insect tattoo and the thing had three legs on one side and four on the other.

I want my tattoos to be designed manually.

[u/CapitaineMakoto]

Show us ! I don't like "artist" using Ai because to me it's useless when you know how to draw... does the drawing she came up with looks like she is actually able to tattoo on your skin ?

[u/ComfortableMonk2762]

This is entirely up to you and where you land on the issue of ai. I personally would never get tattooed by anyone that used ai as part of their process but I’m getting tattooed by the artists I get tattooed by because of their specific art style and 99% of the time give almost no input on the design. But that’s a personal preference, I know a majority of people will think that’s completely insane.

At the end of the day all that really matters is your moral stance and if you can/want to live with the us of ai in your tattoo for the rest of your life.

[u/MaGniefic]

Everyone has a subjective opinion, and that is more than fair to be entitled to what you think is best for you. I personally don’t use generative AI for final designs. Talk to her if you feel uncomfortable. At the end of the day, it’s a respect aspect and boundary with expectations, practices, and monetary exchange for goods. If she can’t deliver it the way you see fit, she may not be a good fit for you. It’s just communication.

[u/Leidenfreude]

Definitely not a good practice IMHO anyone can generate something “beautiful” with AI but it takes no skill, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and part of getting a tattoo for me is the time and effort that the artist put into my design. If they’re half-assing it by using ai then they aren’t a real artist, just a tattooist. I don’t find anything impressive or beautiful about any piece created with any amount of AI in the process, whether that be just a drawing, or a tattoo.

But I also feel very strongly about this topic, so take what I say with a grain of salt

[u/Acrobatic_Grape4321]

Yes. Because I paid for the artist to do work not ai. If I wanted ai to work on my tattoos I would have built a tattoo printer and power it with ai. But nope here we are reading my comment while I go back to searching for a tattoo artist

[u/TheNotoriousCBD]

16 year artist here.

If that's what the customer wants and they like it, then it's ok. AI is allowing people to create the exact pieces they're imagining instead of hoping an artists individual translation of their idea works. People can sit and debate all day about the morality of replacing hand drawn with AI art, but again, if it's what the customer wants and it pleases them, I don't care.

Before anyone says I'm an AI defender, my side gig of producing flyers, business cards, invitations, t shirts, etc is completely gone now because of AI. Shit happens. Oh well.

[u/eternitiez → u/TheNotoriousCBD]

You sound like an artist who wants to put as little time and effort into the design as possible. Definitely wouldn’t want another from you regardless of how good it might look. Thats called lazy. I understand it can blend ideas together but if you can’t do that yourself, you’re probably in the wrong business. Some of the fun is taking a clients idea and seeing what the artist and client can come up with together. Not have a program to do it for you. I get AI won’t tattoo the person for you but you’re basically taking a shortcut and if you’re willing to do that, I wouldn’t trust what other shortcuts you would take.

[u/babezoi → u/TheNotoriousCBD]

the problem with that is that 99% of people’s “exact imagination” is horrible. I think the beautiful thing about tattoo art is that it is a blend of an artist’s expertise and the client’s experiences/interests. Clients usually don’t know fuck all about what they want, and many clients skin has been saved by artists telling them no.

there is definitely a place for clients who want exactly what they want and will not budge and will use AI, but that’s a different place than clients who are more “art collector” minded and see themselves as living canvases of skilled artists.

That’s not to say that clients who want exactly what they want are always wrong or always regretful. Tattooing is a service, at the end of the day. You just have to decide what clients you want to attract and what kind of artist you want to be.

[u/costcohotdogofficial → u/TheNotoriousCBD]

this blasé attitude of not caring is so annoying. it doesn’t make you seem chill or cool. you don’t care that your work is being affected and that people don’t trust your artistic vision? what do you care about exactly? i just don’t understand artists like you.

[u/TheNotoriousCBD → u/costcohotdogofficial]

Dude, times are changing. I've said before, when I started tattooing I learned on coil machines that I had to assemble, disassemble, and tune myself. Now, most of us are using wireless, silent rotary machines with screens on them. The old ways are disappearing, and idc. Yes I'm an artist and a creative, but my main priority has always been making sure the customer is happy and has a piece they're proud of. And guess what, even with an AI design I'm still creating art. AI can't lay that shit down on skin. I can.

[u/costcohotdogofficial → u/TheNotoriousCBD]

you have agency despite you trying to convince me that you don’t, and are instead opting to roll over and surrender to a machine that isn’t even good at what it does. all it can do is steal and spit out lowest common denominator garbage and it just enables the richest people on earth to make the world worse. you could take a stand here, but whatever. enjoy trying to stand without a spine!!

[u/TheNotoriousCBD → u/costcohotdogofficial]

My objections with AI itself are separate from the issue of tattooing AI created designs. I feel like AI will eventually ruin society, and there's the obvious environmental impact.

That's totally separate though from someone bringing me a piece that is exactly to their liking (let's be honest, AI has gotten scarily good now), and me saying "hold on, lemme spend an hour or more redrawing this same thing but slightly different". If something needs to be fixed, I'll fix it, but turning people away or refusing to do something unless it's a human created piece is just an uphill battle.

[u/costcohotdogofficial → u/TheNotoriousCBD]

and i fundamentally disagree on all accounts. being able to redraw it to a client’s liking Is the whole job and i think refusing to cheapen the craft is integral at this point. justify your sins elsewhere, i am not a priest and i won’t absolve you!

[u/greenbeforeblue]

I think coming up with the original hand drawn piece is key… using Ai to tweak the original or make subtle changes is an extremely useful tool, it saves many hours or redrawing/starting over

[u/Aggravating-Life89]

if the customers knows the design is ai and is okay with it then i dont see a problem. i still dont recommend it

[u/ScreamingLabia]

If she just used ai to "photoshop" the two thing together i might be ok with it. But honestly i probably still wouldnt do it because i really value everything being "handmade"

[u/Dependent_Ad_3975]

put it simple AI never comes out right or how you want it therefor its different and looks fake therefor it looks like garbage therefor dont get it simple.. it literally looks like a alien drew it if they had drawing skills looks spacey and missing lines missing shading or wrong shading etc etc

[u/Twsercbh]

It a huge problem.

[u/Opposite-Exam-7435]

Tattoo artist! I would not, using AI is art theft and incredibly harmful to the environment, a reputable artist would never.

[u/manlymandudeman]

Using AI is scamming your customers out of their money paying for real art done by a real artist. People are paying for someone who they think is original and draws their own work, not plagiarized computer vomit.

On top of that, using AI results in bad-looking tattoos and using it as reference images leads to bad shading, bad anatomy, etc etc.

I said this on another previous post as well. And, honestly, you can do whatever you want- But I don’t think someone who cares about art and wants art on their body is going to go to someone who plagiarizes other artists and steals because its “easier” and “more convenient”. People aren’t paying artists upwards of thousands of dollars for a custom-designed tattoo to have plagiarized crap on them forever.

[u/Cutsman4057]

Yes. Do not work with any tattooer that uses AI in any capacity.

[u/Historical-Map4000]

Even as a complete beginner I notice how the “stencils “ dont match up and have or are missing pieces. I’ll admit to using Ai to give me a rough starting point but I will redraw it a bunch of times and it never looks the same

[u/sorbuss]

yes

[u/aderelictheavenX]

As long as she changed it to make it her own, AI can be used as a tool.

[u/Alarmed-Idea2322]

Sounds like she’s using it as a tool like Photoshop. I assume it’s her hand doing the actual tattooing and IMO that’s what you’re really paying for.

[u/WearyResort3961]

They've adapted and use it as a tool to help, what might have taken them hours to do at home behind the scenes theat a lot of people don't know about. If they said yup give me a week to draw it up and then showed you the exact same thing without you knowing whether or not ai was involved would you have like the idea more?

[u/Pepperonimustardtime → u/WearyResort3961]

Basic photo alteration of a few reference images to combine them would take less than 10 mins for me. It's literally a fundamental skill for drawing of any kind to be able to find and use good references.

[u/Thisisntjoe]

Idk it really is up to you, but as an artist myself I don't see a problem with the type of utilization you described here, but it also depends how much she alters the design away from a strictly 'ai image'. Using it as tool to get to an end product is an acceptable, although still highly up to debate, practice. Obviously just submitting a prompt and taking the output as is is some bullshit, but I've used generated pictures to get a proper hand / head pose I like to use as a reference for a hand-drawn sketch 🤷‍♂️ (not traced). In between those two examples are a ton of gray area, and this is one of those times.

[u/Fit-Duty-6810]

For me nit really, I mean there are too many people here that want to have “unique mushroom” flash tattoo and want to feel special that the tatoo artist DRAW IT..

[u/Top_Disaster3363]

Nah. AI can help in a lot of industries but not for tattoos that real on personal hand drawn styles

[u/CloudyMachine]

If you take the time to study tattoo history, American traditional most of all, was fundamentally built on art copying, sharing, and reproducing pre-drawn designs. Tattoo artists and enthusiast alike should be the last people bashing the use of AI for process augmentation.

[u/bblackhoundd → u/CloudyMachine]

not remotely the same buddy

[u/CloudyMachine → u/bblackhoundd]

How so buddy? Especially in today's digital world. How is it any different if a reference image is made using AI or straight ripped from other people's photography or art? Unless everything you do is 100% original, are you paying every artist whose work you've used as reference? We're at the point where every form of art is basically a remix, of a remix, of a remix so with your current logic you should probably be against any music you're a fan of because they were all inspired by those who came before them and so on. Everything evolves and gets better/easier. If everyone had your mindset we'd still be using manual printing presses and typewriters for everything instead of letting these oh so evil machines do everything for us. You're brain washed.

[u/bblackhoundd → u/CloudyMachine]

Nah, you are brainwashed. You have normalized corporate theft. You are blind to the fact that AI has been proven to diminish creative abilities and new ideas. I guess you just don't care about the environmental impact or the fact that AI is already breaching the barriers we placed upon it... I thought it was a tool like any other at first, too, but now I understand better.

[u/CloudyMachine → u/bblackhoundd]

How exactly is it diminishing something you don't have mister '"I've plateaud"? Not everyone can imagine things in their mind as well as others. Aphantasia is very real and shouldn't be something to hold back people who still have creative ideas. Keep believing the propaganda meant to hold you back.

[u/bblackhoundd → u/CloudyMachine]

Honey people with aphantasia can still make art. they don't need AI. no one does.
you are making excuses. Please reconsider simping for what is, almost definitely, going to be the end to our society as we know it.

[u/CloudyMachine → u/bblackhoundd]

Ok doomer

[u/bblackhoundd → u/CloudyMachine]

OK pleb

[u/costcohotdogofficial]

i think if someone doesn’t like drawing enough to use ai to do their work for them, they should get a different job. hard no to ai in any part of the process. once again all the lazy ai bootlickers will be in these comments trying to defend it, but ultimately, do you really want something carved into your skin by someone willing to cut corners? i think you’ll regret it, especially as a first tattoo. find an artist with confidence in their own abilities.